Skating Lesson
by TheCrowMaiden
Summary: Fluff! Turns out Pietro and Wanda can't roller skate, so it's up to some of the Avengers to fix that. Just a one shot because I imagined that Pietro on skates might not be such a good thing.


"Why are we even considering me for this plan when we have roller derby over there?" Tony said, pointing a screwdriver at Pietro who was standing off to the side.

Pietro frowned and traded a quick look with Wanda, who looked just as confused. "Roller derby? Is that an insult?"

"What? No." Tony jiggled the screwdriver in the joints of the armoured fingers of the Mark forty-three, and swore when it let off sparks.

The Avengers were having an unofficial planning session for a mission that was still months away, and one of the elements required a certain amount of speed. Natasha and Steve had suggested that Tony take that responsibility, at which point the millionaire had paused in tinkering with his armour long enough to indicate Pietro.

"Roller derby," Tony continued after he put out the spark that had caught on his shirt, "is a, a sport with people on roller skates. Or inline skates, you know I don't remember."

When the twins continued to look confused, Tony stopped and looked between the two of them a couple times before he started to laugh. "Wait, are you telling me that you never used roller skates?"

Pietro felt the heat immediately rise to his face and had just opened his mouth when Steve interrupted quickly.

"I haven't tried inline skates myself," Steve said "they didn't have them before the war. Although roller skates were popular when I was in high school."

Steve smiled at the twins, and Pietro almost smiled back. Steve was usually the first to put a stop to anything that might make Pietro or Wanda uncomfortable about not knowing things, probably because he often got stuck in the same situation himself.

"In that case, I think we should lace up." Clint had been on the edge of the conversation, busy with looking over a map with Natasha, but he cut in with a grin. "All of us. It'll be fun."

So the next afternoon they gathered at the indoor gym in the training facility, Natasha and Sam weighed down with the skates they had purchased for everyone that morning. While Natasha distributed the inline skates to the men, Sam walked over to the twins holding the two pairs of skates that had four wheels in a set up like a car rather than like an ice skate.

"These are easier to start with." He told them with a smile, handing the smaller pair to Wanda. "Do you want me to help you get started, or do you want to just give them a try?"

"We'll just try them." Pietro said firmly, struggling to get his foot into the skate and trying not to give away how hard it was.

Sam laughed at Pietro's effort, and sat down to help him loosen and lace the skates up properly. Steve rolled over a bit unsteadily, already wearing a pair of inline skates and smiled at Wanda. She smiled back briefly, holding her skates on her lap while she watched Sam help her brother.

"Need a hand?" Steve asked, and Wanda just nodded.

So Steve sat and carefully helped her, explaining everything as he did. Natasha came over to make sure he'd done it right and then hauled the super-soldier away, laughing. Sam helped the twins to their feet before he raced after the others, and he and Natasha each took one of Steve's arms and towed the blond around the gym.

Natasha and Clint were the most naturally talented at skating, or at the very least the best practiced, with Sam running a close third. Tony was barely better than Steve, and Clint literally skated circles around him. The archer started whistling a sprightly tune and Tony did a full body cringe, and pointed accusingly at Clint, or rather where Clint had been a moment before.

"That song," Tony said, "is as old as you are so can you just not?"

Clint stopped whistling but only waited long enough for Tony to relax before he broke out into the chorus of whatever song it was, singing "I've got a brand new pair of roller-skates, you've got a brand new key~"

Tony groaned loudly, and wobbled his way to the wall complaining about outdated folk music.

Pietro looked at Wanda, and smiled encouragingly at her. "It can't be too hard, yeah?"

He strode away from the bench confidently, and almost fell flat on his face.

"Shit, shit," he said under his breath, grabbing onto Wanda's outstretched hands and trying to not overbalance them both.

The twins held onto each other tightly, Pietro watching the others move effortlessly and wondering how they managed. Every shift of Wanda's or his threatened to tip them over, and he couldn't imagine how Natasha managed to go the speed she was with such grace. Skating was nothing like running and Pietro wondered if he could get the skates off, pick up Wanda, and make a run for it before any of them noticed.

"How're you doing, brat?"

Clint skated over with the same ease exhibited by Natasha and raised an eyebrow at the twins, who were still clinging to each other.

"You two are hopeless," Clint said, shaking his head at them and holding out his hands. "Here, each of you grab a hand and I'll tow you so you get the feel for it."

"We can manage!" Pietro said hotly, even as Wanda reached out and took one of the man's hands.

Clint gave Wanda's hand a little pull, dragging her forward. Wanda was still holding onto Pietro with her other hand though, and the movement almost knocked him over. The archer smirked at Pietro and gave another little pull on Wanda's hand.

"You can hurt your ass or your pride, kid." Clint said, still holding his hand out. "Hurry up and pick one."

Wanda squeezed Pietro's hand when he hesitated, so he sighed and cautiously took Clint's free hand. The archer immediately started to skate backwards, easily towing the twins along with him in the same way that Natasha and Sam had done with Steve.

Clint took them for a couple laps around the gym at an easy pace, and Pietro started to relax until Clint sped up.

"Hey! Slow down, old man!"

"Seriously kid? Don't tell me you're afraid of a little speed."

"This is much different than running." Pietro complained, fighting the urge to dig his heels into the floor.

"Maybe because you're not moving your legs." Clint replied with a grin, but slowed down to almost the same speed as before.

Natasha drifted over to the three, encouraging the twins to match her strides as she skated beside them in perfect time. Eventually Pietro started to feel like he had the hang of it, and when he looked over at Wanda, she smiled.

"Ready to try it solo, kids?" Clint asked and, once both twins nodded, let go of their hands.

Wanda gave the tiniest of gasps, and Pietro worried for a second that they would fall again. But they matched their strides and made a full lap around the gym unaccompanied, to the great delight of them both. Feeling confident, Pietro let go of Wanda's hand and let her move to the side and raced around the gym even faster, zipping past Clint with a cheeky grin.

He went around twice more, gaining speed each time until he practically flew around the gym for his third lap. And since he had no idea how to stop, he simply grabbed a hold of Clint as he raced past.

Clint swore, Pietro laughed, and the two of them slid into the wall with a forceful thud and several more choice words from the older man.

Sam and Natasha cheered from the sideline, Steve applauded, and Tony shook his head and went back to the tablet he had acquired at some point.

"See?" He said to no one in particular, "roller derby."


End file.
